Resources

Post navigation

Four excellent replacements for your EX3

We started spring cleaning early this year and, while doing anything remotely difficult in December felt incredibly strange, we have to say that getting rid of our old kit actually felt pretty good. We’re up to date now! We’re flexible! We can shoot videos that don’t look five years out of date! It’s all pretty exciting.

One of the hardest parts of the entire exercise was getting rid of our trusty EX1/EX3 combo. Having gotten us through more case study shoots, product demos and terrifying windows into our collective subconscious than we care to remember, these cameras have earned themselves a special place in our hearts and besides, they’re good, dependable cameras.

But we had to face facts. They’re old cameras. The images they produce aren’t as high quality as those produced by some of their latest rivals, and they don’t make it easy to get fashionable effects like shallow DOF. They had to go. And, if you’re being honest, your EX3 is closing in on the end of its shelf life, too.

In order to help you get through the switch with maximum dignity and minimal angst, we’ve put together this roundup of resources for our four favourite replacements: the PMW-200, PMW-300, NEX-FS700 and PXW-Z100, all of which are perfect for different reasons. And if you don’t see what you need here, you can always put a question to our team by calling 03332 409 306 or emailing broadcast@Jigsaw24.com.

Sony’s PMW-200 is designed to be the direct successor to the EX1, incorporating familiar controls and features but giving the overall image quality a bump thanks to a new image sensor. This sensor was developed to help combat rolling shutter issues, so you can kiss those goodbye, and will also support high frame rate recording, should you feel the need to recreate select scenes from The Hobbit at full speed in your back garden (we have absolutely not done this).

The reviews

The always dependable No Film School have some key specs and a pretty comprehensive video review here (the presenter is really quite keen on Fujinon lenses) and, although they’re big EX1 fans, they do find time to wax lyrical about our favourite feature: the PMW-200’s 15 second cache recording capability. If you’re going to be doing events work or ENG, having all that extra time is going to make it a lot easier for you to capture key moments, and we don’t know anyone who’d turn that down.

For a more comprehensive overview, head over to XDCAM User and take a look at their review, in which an EX1-loving videographer takes the PMW-200 out on shoots in Singapore and the UK. It’s the closest you’re going to get to touching the PMW-200 without pawing it in a showroom.

PMW-300: The new EX3

If interchangeable lenses are an absolute necessity for you and you’ve always been an EX3 user, the PMW-200’s ample charms may not quite be enough for you. You’ll want the PMW-300, which offers a broadcast quality, EBU-approved 50Mbps codec and interchangeable lens on top of everything you’d expect from an EX3. Like the PMW-200, it features an updated sensor that’ll really help with rolling shutter issues and enable you to shoot HFR.

“I like both of these cameras and would be pleased to own either. But of the two cameras, I think the PMW-300 is the better all round camera. I really like the 300, I think that Sony have really got this one right (with perhaps the exception of the release catch for the shoulder pad). The picture quality is once again best in class and rivals many much more expensive and larger cameras. It’s going to be a good all round camera that will find a home on corporate shoots, news and documentary shoots as well as in low budget studios. The new viewfinder is really delightful and is a big part of what makes this camera so good.”

As well as inspiring us to make a frankly embarrassingly over the top test video in a frantic ten minute filming session, the FS700 got a lot of early love for its super slow motion capabilities and ability to shoot shallow depth of field, which has become popular in corporate videography circles, shorts and, well, everywhere else.

Another thing we love, though, is that you can pair it with Convergent Design’s Odyssey 7Q to scale up to 4K. This is a 7.7″ OLED monitor-slash-recorder that lets you record DNxHD 8 or 10-­bit YCC to 1080p, 60/60i, 720p, 60 (.mov, .mxf). How does that get you 4K? Well Convergent Design have set up a new system that allows you to either buy firmware updates for 2K, 4K, HFR and various shades of RAW outright, or rent them on a day-by-day basis.

If you’re typically shooting HD but need 4K for a specific project, you can just hire that firmware for the duration of your shoot and stop paying for it when you don’t need it anymore, making this a really cost-effective way to kick start your 4K workflow. (This is actually why Original Concept TV chose to use the FS700.)

Widely hailed as the camera that’s going to do for 4K what the Z1 did for HD, the Z100 is a compact, affordable 4K camcorder that’s proven popular in the corporate and videography circuit, not least because the ROI trimming lets you shoot a single angle of 4K and then trim it to give the impression that you’ve shot an interview from different distances.

Your 4K footage is captured to 10-bit 4:2:2 intraframe XAVC, which is the same codec used in the F5 and F55. It records to the brand new XQD card, and its dual slots allow for mirror or relay recording.

There are also a few slightly sketchy looking tutorials online explaining how you can convert your Z100 footage to ProRes so you can edit it in FCP, but we should warn you that we’re yet to try these out.